I am not a fundie, so don't start thinking that. I am an agnostic and a practicing Buddhist. But can your problem be that you fail not to see a reality beyond the five senses? When asking to see God(s) or anything paranormal, should it only be seen with the physical eyes and not the eye of understanding (mind eye)? Is your world view limited to only the five senses and not beyond. Maybe you are not seeing the whole picture. I don't mean to rag on you but I am just wondering how you feel.
2007-08-27 21:49:04 · 22 answers · asked by ? 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Er, you have this backwards. Atheists are the ones who use understanding - the mind - to understand the world.
Believers don't even use the senses.
2007-08-27 22:05:10 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
What do I have to navigate this world except my five senses? I don't see anything else I can use. If there is a reality beyond the five sense, could you tell me how to tap into it? I'd give it a shot, I'm very curious.
As it stands though, I think that what you call the "mind eye" is really just our physical brain at work organizing and sorting through our various sensory memories. Even when I think and reflect, my thoughts always take the shape of one of my senses. I simply don't understand how we can perceive the world with anything other than the senses. If that puts me inside some sort of close minded box, I assure you I do not know how to get out of it.
2007-08-27 22:02:30 · answer #2 · answered by Subconsciousless 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I heard a lot about this inner spiritual understanding thing as a Christian. The problem with it is, lacking the ability to report upon anything objectively outside of ourselves, the eye of understanding could easily be nothing more than the animals curled at the back of our brain insidiously telling us which answer is easiest and most comfortable and seems likely to get us more approval/food/sex/sleep.
We're very good at fooling ourselves. If we know from common experience that we can perceive events in the physical senses that are not real, how much less should we trust a faculty that is so difficult to distinguish from emotionally-charged fantasy?
2007-08-27 22:47:41 · answer #3 · answered by Voyager 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you actually mean to direct this at skeptics or materialists. Atheism doesn't prevent one from accepting that supernatural things may exist, just that gods don't.
Also, considering the amount of evidence against and the lack of evidence for any sort of "mind's eye" type abilities that people think we have, I'm gonna say yes, I believe that we can only perceive the world with five sense. BUT all information is open to interpretation, we aren't purely instinctual beings and therefore we may perceive the same information but based on our gathered knowledge and personal beliefs we may interpret that information differently.
2007-08-27 22:03:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. We use instruments that can detect the entire elecromagnetic spectrum, gravity, and loads of other nifty things we could never do with our five senses.
However, to say that we generally try to back up our belief with empirical data? Yah, that's accurate. I cannot speak for all athiests, but the only things I truly believe in are the things that I can back up with direct and unquestionable evidence.
HOWEVER, this is not to say that I will only ever believe what I believe now. If someone were to come along and show me proof of a soul, I'd believe in a soul. If someone showed me proof of an afterlife, I'd believe in an afterlife. I do my best to keep an open mind to new information. I fully expect that I'm simply going to live out my life without answers to big questions, though, and I'm fine with that.
2007-08-27 22:06:20 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Being rational is not one of the 5 senses. I tend to use my rational mind along with my 5 senses. I am not convinced either way when it comes to a God or what have you. ido understand that there is more to our existance than what we can see taste hear and feel. I mean look at the CHI masters, i cannot see or feel CHI but i am pretty convinced that there is some kind of energy that they conjure up as i have seen them do some amazing things in person. I do not think that there is a Creator because of what my Rational mind, logic, facts (as i interpret them), and also what my "minds eye" tells me. I "feel" no kind of saving Grace surrounding me. Is that the answer you were looking for?
2007-08-27 21:54:38 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Ive often thought about this but not in the context of religion really
You are right, we are restricted to what our five senses (and the machines we make) can pick up.
but what do you think your minds eye is? its made up of your cells.....so your mind can only work with what its given and unfortunately its been proven time and time again that your perceptions cannot be trusted
2007-08-27 21:54:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Beyond? I don't follow? I mean if a person takes a hallucinogenic Drug and See's Images and visions does that make them real? he is not literally seeing these visions with his eyes but rather with the minds eye? Just because our minds have the ability to create unusual visions and images does not make them real. I have seen Schizophrenics claim to see ants crawling all over them...are they real?
2007-08-27 21:54:43 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
You already know this is not the case. I believe atoms exist yet I can't see them. I have a reasonable idea of what goes on in the heart of a star but I can't see it.
The difference is that there is other evidence available. For the paranormal and supernatural all we have is anecdotal evidence, which is not evidence at all.
2007-08-27 21:56:47 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
Consciousness is the sum of thought, memory and sensory perception. There is no 'minds eye' or any other mythical method of perceiving information outside the body.
2007-08-27 21:59:09 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋